Exploration Of Exposures Associated With Bedding That Are Risks For Childhood Allergy And Asthma Symptoms
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$263,500.00
Summary
Asthma prevalence in Australia has doubled in the last 20 years, with 1 in 4 children now affected. House dust mites are probably the single most important allergen associated with asthma. The prevalence of mite allergy is linked to exposure, and such allergy when combined with high exposure, is a potent risk factor for asthma exacerbations. The current international advice for managing mite-allergic asthma, strongly advocates the use of bedding encasings as the best way to reduce exposure. Howe ....Asthma prevalence in Australia has doubled in the last 20 years, with 1 in 4 children now affected. House dust mites are probably the single most important allergen associated with asthma. The prevalence of mite allergy is linked to exposure, and such allergy when combined with high exposure, is a potent risk factor for asthma exacerbations. The current international advice for managing mite-allergic asthma, strongly advocates the use of bedding encasings as the best way to reduce exposure. However, three recent major trials using encasings and a meta-analysis of earlier trials all fail to show a clinical benefit. One of the applicants (ET) recently showed, using expertise in measuring personal exposure, that these encasings, as used, fail to significantly reduce aeroallergen exposure. By contrast, 3 recent Australian studies, involving the applicants, AK, ALP and NG showed that feather bedding compared to synthetic bedding, was strongly protective for asthma - the opposite of public advice. The suggested mechanisms involve reduced exposure to mite allergens, or altered exposure to bacterial endotoxin, but persuasive experimental support is lacking. We also propose a novel hypothesis that feather exposure may induce allergic 'tolerance'. Currently there is a lack of certainty about valid approaches to prevent asthma, and the Global Initiative for Asthma has described the need to understand mechanisms and improve interventions as urgent. This project is an ideal opportunity to combine the expertise of the CIA (ET) in measuring airborne exposures (mite, endotoxin, proteins) with that of the others who have expertise in children's asthma, and who are already involved in two large clinical trails involving different bedding and allergen avoidance. Our measurements of these bedding exposures and their clinical outcomes will provide, for the first time, a quantitative basis to refine public health allergen-based interventions to prevent and manage asthma.Read moreRead less
The main purpose of this study is to understand how airborne fungi affect asthmatics who are allergic to them. Fungi or moulds release large numbers of spores into the air that are inhaled. In many cases fungal spores outnumber other particles that carry allergen, such as pollens or cat dander, by 100 to 1. This makes fungi the most common potential allergen in the environment. Fungi have been associated with respiratory diseases including fungal sinusitis, asthma, rhinitis, allergic alveolitis ....The main purpose of this study is to understand how airborne fungi affect asthmatics who are allergic to them. Fungi or moulds release large numbers of spores into the air that are inhaled. In many cases fungal spores outnumber other particles that carry allergen, such as pollens or cat dander, by 100 to 1. This makes fungi the most common potential allergen in the environment. Fungi have been associated with respiratory diseases including fungal sinusitis, asthma, rhinitis, allergic alveolitis and sick building syndrome. Largely due to their diversity and complexity, allergenic fungi have not been well studied and the ways in which individuals vary when inhaling spores is not known. Unlike other allergenic particles, it is unlikely that fungal spores release their allergen as soon as they are inhaled because we have shown in earlier in vitro studies that fungi continue to release allergen over time and this is likely to be the case when they are inhaled. Our laboratory has developed two new techniques that allow us to measure how many spores people inhale and whether they are allergic to them. This study will use these tools to detect and identify the important allergenic fungi involved in domestic and outdoor exposure of asthmatics, the degree of contribution to the total allergen load to which subjects are exposed and identify in what conditions fungi are the causal agents in location-specific symptoms. This study will also investigate allergen production of fungi in situ in the human nose, which will have application in allergic sinusitis and asthma amongst other respiratory diseases. We will investigate how readily allergenic spores germinate in the nose and under what conditions they release allergen.Read moreRead less
Quantitiative Assessment Of Solar UV Exposure For Vitamin D Synthesis In Australian Adults
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$1,162,536.00
Summary
This research program will add significantly to our current scientific understanding of the dual health outcomes of UV exposure (Vitamin D and skin cancer) . This project is in line with Australia's R and D Priorities, in that it will result in direct and indirect social and economic benefits to Australia by applying the scientific knowledge gained through this research to develop public health initiatives to improve some of Australia's most significant and costly health problems.
An Evaluation Of The Validity Of Measureing Salivary Oxycodone Concentrations For Pharmacokinetic Studies In Patients
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$49,135.00
Summary
In many countries, oxycodone is replacing morphine as the opioid of first choice for the treatment of moderate to severe pain. Despite this, very little is known about how the drug is processed in the body or how its ability to control pain is affected by such factors as other drugs, age or organ function. Studies to determine this usually require multiple blood tests from individual patients over set time periods. Our team is able to measure drug levels in saliva and has shown this to be a vali ....In many countries, oxycodone is replacing morphine as the opioid of first choice for the treatment of moderate to severe pain. Despite this, very little is known about how the drug is processed in the body or how its ability to control pain is affected by such factors as other drugs, age or organ function. Studies to determine this usually require multiple blood tests from individual patients over set time periods. Our team is able to measure drug levels in saliva and has shown this to be a valid substitute for the measurement of drug levels in blood. Furthermore, one of us has developed a computer modelling system that shows how drugs are handled in the body using only a few samples from each patient. Palliative care patients are generally frail and unwell. We are reluctant to expose them to invasive tests such as repeated blood sampling. If we can prove that saliva sampling is as good as blood sampling, we will have identified a simple non-invasive means of greatly increasing our knowledge of oxycodone and how it behaves in individual patients. This in turn may allow us to tailor drug doses according to the unique characteristics of each patient and to optimise their pain control.Read moreRead less
The Early Life Origins Of Impaired Testicular Function: A Prospective Cohort Study
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$623,277.00
Summary
There is a widespread public perception that sperm counts are diminishing. This theory can only be tested by using a representative sample of young men, rather than biased populations (such as men presenting as sperm donors). We have the unique opportunity to test this theory, and to determine any early life events which may lead to reduced sperm counts, such as being growth restricted at birth, exposed to high levels of maternal oestrogens or smoking or being overweight in adolescence.